Z turned five today, and we've been centering enjoyable activities around the event for the past week. My birthday is a few days before hers, too, so between minor celebrations for me, family get-togethers, and true Z parties for multiple constituencies, we do a lot of partying in August.

Last night, we had one at the home of one set of grandparents, with lots of extended family and family friends. It began with an impromptu interpretive dance by Z and her friend S.




Shortly afterward, there were presents. One stood out a bit.


There are gifts that inspire immediate joy, and there are gifts that require a bit of taking in. These are usually the best.


This one was built by Jenni's own grandparents thirty years ago, when Jenni was around five herself.


Jenni's father spent the last few months reglueing broken dollhouse furniture, repairing shingles, and repainting the exterior walls and interior floors.




Everything that was salvageable, he preserved. I'm grateful for that.


The dining room.


The living room stairway.


In the master bedroom.




The bathroom.


Now we just need to figure out where to put it.

I swear I measured the opening from our former fireplace and compared it with the height of the dollhouse, but I have never been known for my precision with a tape measure. For now, the dollhouse is on our butcher block. Fortunately, Z's Learning Tower offers great access.


We saved the other gifts from us for her actual birthday.




This one's a book.


This one is a large cigar box full of dollhouse furnishings from my mother and sister, both dedicated dollhouse decorators in their day. Memo to self: Make more non-Christmas furoshiki.


This one is a "big person" camera to replace Z's Kid-Tough Digital Camera, which has seen better days. We searched long and hard to find one that would take decent digital photos yet not be very breakable, and not cost a fortune like the gorgeous but waaaaaay-too-expensive-for-our-family Olympus Stylus Tough line.

We'll tell you what we found tomorrow - not sure if the camera is widely available, but we can explain the logic behind what we selected that might help you pick out a breakable camera for a five-year-old.

We're only on our second day with a house in our house, but I think we've discovered a new center of play activity that will be hard to beat.


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